updated 7:57 p.m. ET Feb. 26, 2006

TURIN, Italy - America was shut out of medal competition on Sunday.

Here's a rundown of the last day of the 20th Winter Olympics:

Men's hockey
The three crowns on Sweden’s hockey sweaters are said to represent three great kings. Try convincing any fan they don’t stand for hockey royalty: Forsberg, Sundin and Lidstrom.

Sweden’s three biggest stars came through in its biggest game ever, with Nicklas Lidstrom scoring the game-winning goal 10 seconds into the third period on assists by Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg as the Swedes beat rival Finland 3-2 Sunday for the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal.

Three stars and three goals combined to make for one huge celebration in Sweden, which once again established its on-ice superiority over its smaller neighbor. Finland had been unbeaten in seven Olympic games in Turin, playing near-perfect hockey, but again couldn’t beat the team it wants to beat most.

On Saturday, Finn general manager Jari Kurri joked it was like a little brother-big brother matchup. The only question was whether Finland could shake its little brother role. Again, it couldn’t.

The game winner came so quickly in the third, Finn goalie Antero Niittymaki almost didn’t react. Forsberg, playing despite a severe groin injury that kept him out of the Philadelphia Flyers’ last eight games, grabbed the puck off the faceoff and fed ahead to Sundin, whose perfect-as-can-be drop pass to the blue line was one-timed by Lidstrom past Niittymaki.

Finland pressed and pressed for the tying goal after that, and nearly got it with 20 seconds remaining by Olli Jokinen. But Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist, made a series of big saves in outplaying fellow NHL rookie Niittymaki, who had shut out three of his previous five opponents.

Slide show   Taking gold Check out the best images from the 2006 Winter Olympics.

After they won, the Swedes mobbed each other behind the Finn goal and Sundin and Forsberg grabbed Swedish flags and carried them around the ice, and Forsberg joyously tossed both gloves into the crowd. Several Swedish players cried during the medals ceremony.

Sweden’s second gold medal in four Olympics — it also won on Forsberg’s dramatic shootout goal against Canada in 1994 — more than made it for its dreadful loss to Belarus in the 2002 quarterfinals. One of the biggest upset losses in Olympics history eventually led to former coach Hardy Nilsson’s firing and the hiring of coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson, a former NHL defenseman.

Men's cross-country
What a way for Italy to end its Olympics!

Giorgio di Centa used an impressive sprint through the final stretch to separate from a big pack of skiers for a thrilling victory in the men’s 50km skate Sunday, the final cross-country race of the Turin Games.

Slide show   Pictures of the Day Check out Sunday's best Olympic images.

Di Centa finished in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 11.8 seconds, only eight-tenths of a second ahead of silver medalist Eugeni Dementiev of Russia — a wild ending to the longest and most grueling event in cross-country skiing.

Austria’s Mikhail Botwinov took the bronze, a positive ending for the embattled Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes who were subjects of a doping investigation by the Italian authorities and International Olympic Committee.

The Russian-born Botwinov was involved with banned Austrian coach Walter Mayer four years ago at the Salt Lake City Olympics, where Botwinov won silver in the 30km.

Slide show   Emotional Moments Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.

Dementiev won the 30km pursuit race on the first day of competition, then had another strong day of skiing that fell just short of di Centa’s brilliant push through the stadium.

His fellow Italian, Pietro Piller Cottrer made a move with about 5 kilometers left, briefly leaving a pack that stayed together out front for most of the competition. But Cottrer was closely chased by Jiri Magal of the Czech Republic and Magal then took the top spot.

Cottrer wound up fifth and Magal eighth.

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